I don't know what you're talking about, him resting the handle on his quad getting ready for the lift? He was setting his grip, nothing more, I have seen a lot of people do this with the rolling thunder, same with the Inch dumbbell, they put their hand on a globe to set their grip, no one accuses them of using two hands for lifting the inch when doing this.

Also, the handle was not in contact with his leg during the beginning of his pull. If there was any incidental contact it was with his pants through the range of movement and not his leg helping him get the weight, watch it in slow motion. Also, if memory serves Mark Felix's last world record lift was similar.

See those shorts riding up? What is causing that? The Rolling Thunder handle, safe to say the handle touched his leg on the way up huh?

3. Any contact between the lifter's hand and the non-revolving portion of the handle disqualifies the lift; and other than incidental contact, the hand or Rolling Thunder handle must not touch the body before the lift is completed—dragging the hand or handle up the leg is cause for an immediate "No lift."

Now I would consider both pulls "incidental contact", neither man cheated anything, so stop trying to imply so with Alexey.

Also it doesn't look like Felix's right leg/knee fully locked out, as per the rules

How about instead of trying to question Alexey's lift and cause trouble for nothing, you just congratulate him on an amazing pull, because that is what it was. So what if he uses his legs in a more sumo style pull with more leg drive, last I remembered there was no grip sport or Iron Mind rule saying using leg drive to help in a lift was against the rules.

I'm just calling it as i see it, it seems like he squats under it and creates a shelf for the handle on his left leg (not talking about before the lift). Could be wrong but that's what it looked like to me. Maybe that was just how it looked on the videos or he did it by mistake i don't know.

Then watch the second video of the lift posted, watch it a few times and tell me what you think then. The handle is nowhere near his leg, more like his groin/crotch, if there was any contact it was obviously incidental and not on purpose. Alexey has lifted like this for some time, his lifts were passed in Odd Haugens comp with the same technique and squat pull style.

And I wasn't trying to take anything away from Felix, just proving a point that when someone wants to nitpick one thing and troll someones accomplishments, it can be done to others as well. If there is something wrong with Alexey's lift because the handle had incidental contact with his leg on the way up, then there should be something wrong with Felix's as well, since in the photograph right from the Iron Mind website shows his shorts riding up and the handle looking like it was also touching his leg.

Also, Alexey's explosion with the RT was stronger than Felix's and when I said "and that is saying something", it was a compliment to Mark as a near the top of the food chain world class strongman and Alexey as someone who has obviously put a lot of time and effort into his training AND technique to suit his body type with the Rolling Thunder. Being as you come from a Girevoy sport background, you should be able to appreciate one man finding out what is most efficient for him in terms of training, leverages, technique etc. I would think using the semi squat pull helps Alexey keep the weight as close to his body as possible, shortening the lever arm and making pulls a whole lot more efficient. I see nothing wrong with this, it is done in all other strength sports, Oly lifting, powerlifting etc. The shorter the lever arm the better. If someone can make changes to their technique, like in Oly lifting, by gripping the bar wider or narrowing or widening their stance width before the clean to improve leverages, trust me they're going to do it.

I see nothing wrong with the pull itself but he does start to lower the weight just a fraction before the judge start to lower his arm. Not sure what the rules state but in eg IPF powerlifting you cannot start to lower the weight until the judge has moved his arm down. It does not even look like he is watching the judge's arm. Making sure a lift adheres to whatever rules are in place is not nit-picking but an essential part of the sport.

I see nothing wrong with the pull itself but he does start to lower the weight just a fraction before the judge start to lower his arm. Not sure what the rules state but in eg IPF powerlifting you cannot start to lower the weight until the judge has moved his arm down. It does not even look like he is watching the judge's arm. Making sure a lift adheres to whatever rules are in place is not nit-picking but an essential part of the sport.